A SUBCOMPACT Q ENHANCED ACTIVE HYDROGEN MASER

Robert R. Hayes, Harry T.M. Wang

Abstract:	A hydrogen maser has been fabricated that is considerably smaller than others developed by Hughes Research Laboratories (HRL) (1,2). The system uses an L-C loading structure to lower the resonant frequency of the microwave cavity, and an electronic cavity stabilization servo to ensure long-term cavity stability. The overall size of the physics unit (microwave cavity. vacuum chamber, dissociator, state selector, hydrogen source, four nested magnetic shields, and front-end electronics) is 5.6 in. by 5.6 in. by 14.5 in. The entire maser, including all power supplies and receiver electronics, is being packaged in a 6 in. by 16 in. by 17 in. envelope suitable for rack mounting. Preliminary data show a stability of 8 x 10" for a T of 100 s, which is very close to the theoretical limit for this design (3), and significantly better than that for other standards of comparable size. Such a maser should prove very attractive for applications in which high stability, small package size, and low weight are critical requirements.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 18th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting December 2 - 4, 1986 DuPont Plaza Hotel Washington, DC
Pages:	611 - 620
Cite this article:	Hayes, Robert R., Wang, Harry T.M., "A SUBCOMPACT Q ENHANCED ACTIVE HYDROGEN MASER," Proceedings of the 18th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Washington, DC, December 1986, pp. 611-620.
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